Kolkata: As many as 64 candidates are in the fray for the third phase of elections in Bengal on Tuesday in which four Parliamentary constituencies (PCs) — Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur and Murshidabad — and one Assembly constituency (AC), Bhagawangola (in Murshidabad district) are going for polls. The Election Commission of India (EC) has deployed 334 companies of Central Forces.
“We will have webcasting facilities in all the 7,360 polling stations in the four Parliamentary constituencies bound for polls on Tuesday. A total of 178 companies of Central Forces are deployed in Murshidabad where apart from two Parliamentary seats (Murshidabad and Jangipur) there is one Assembly seat Bhagwangola which is also going for polls,” an EC official said. Bhagawangola seat fell vacant after the death of its sitting TMC MLA Idris Ali on February 16.
Meanwhile, 144 companies of Central Forces have been deployed in Malda. About 13,601 state police personnel will be on poll duty. About 2,830 polling stations are earmarked as critical by the poll panel with Jangipur having 762- the highest among the four PCs. Murshidabad has 715 critical polling stations, Malda South has 702 and Malda North has 651.
Two of the four PCs — Murshidabad and Jangipur — were won by TMC while Congress and BJP had won Malda South and Malda North, respectively, during Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
The total number of electors in the third phase is 73,37,651. Murshidabad has 18,88,097 electors, Malda North 18,62,035, Malda South 17,82,159 and Jangipur 18,05,360. The total number of male electors are 37,25,102 and female 36,12,395. The total number of 85 plus electors is 34,553 and first time electors is 1,57,736. Women will handle 227 polling stations. The total number of model polling stations in the third phase is 18.
In the Bhagawangola AC, there are 281 polling stations with a total 2,77310 electors. The total male voters are 1,42,347 while female 1,34,962. The first time voters in the AC are 8,370 while 85 plus voters stand at 1,830.
The Commission has deployed five general observers, five expenditure observers and two police observers for the third phase. Malda North will have 75 micro observers while Malda South, Murshidabad and Jangipur will have 70 micro observers each.